India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has imposed a temporary restriction on Telegram access nationwide until June 22, coinciding with the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination on June 21, and has also ordered the disabling of Telegram's message-editing feature in India until June 30, measures welcomed by the National Testing Agency (NTA) to safeguard exam integrity, following the arrest of two men from Rajasthan for operating fraudulent Telegram channels falsely claiming to sell the NEET re-examination paper, allegedly collecting approximately ₹1.5 crore through QR codes and compromised bank accounts, with police confirming no actual exam material was recovered, and this action occurs amidst concerns about Telegram's global use by cybercriminals, including a recent FBI warning about a phishing toolkit distributed via the platform, and the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination is being conducted due to a paper leak in the original May 3 exam.

India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has imposed a temporary restriction on Telegram access nationwide until June 22, coinciding with the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination on June 21, and has also ordered the disabling of Telegram's message-editing feature in India until June 30, measures welcomed by the National Testing Agency (NTA) to safeguard exam integrity, following the arrest of two men from Rajasthan for operating fraudulent Telegram channels falsely claiming to sell the NEET re-examination paper, allegedly collecting approximately ₹1.5 crore through QR codes and compromised bank accounts, with police confirming no actual exam material was recovered, and this action occurs amidst concerns about Telegram's global use by cybercriminals, including a recent FBI warning about a phishing toolkit distributed via the platform, and the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination is being conducted due to a paper leak in the original May 3 exam.

India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has imposed a temporary restriction on Telegram access nationwide until June 22, coinciding with the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination on June 21, and has also ordered the disabling of Telegram's message-editing feature in India until June 30, measures welcomed by the National Testing Agency (NTA) to safeguard exam integrity, following the arrest of two men from Rajasthan for operating fraudulent Telegram channels falsely claiming to sell the NEET re-examination paper, allegedly collecting approximately ₹1.5 crore through QR codes and compromised bank accounts, with police confirming no actual exam material was recovered, and this action occurs amidst concerns about Telegram's global use by cybercriminals, including a recent FBI warning about a phishing toolkit distributed via the platform, and the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination is being conducted due to a paper leak in the original May 3 exam.

The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has ordered a temporary restriction on access to Telegram across India until June 22, timed to cover the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination scheduled for June 21 and its immediate aftermath.

The ministry has also separately directed Telegram to disable its message-editing feature in India until June 30. The National Testing Agency (NTA) welcomed both measures in a formal statement, calling them necessary to protect the integrity of the examination and urging candidates to rely only on official NTA channels for updates.

The move came after Ahmedabad police's cybercrime branch, during routine cyber patrolling, arrested two men from Rajasthan—Sumer Singh Bharatlal Meena, 24, from Jaipur, and Akash Pappulal Meena, 22, from Kota—for running a network of fraudulent Telegram channels that falsely claimed to possess the NEET re-examination question paper and offered to sell it to students and parents. Police confirmed that no actual examination material was recovered from either accused.

According to the police, the duo had created a prominent channel named 'Raghav_singh_neet' along with seven others, and allegedly collected payments via QR codes and compromised bank accounts. Transactions worth approximately ₹1.5 crore were traced through six bank accounts linked to 12 complaints from across multiple states, revealed ground reports by The Indian Express.

Around 1,000 mobile numbers and Telegram channels were reportedly contacted within a single month, and the accused had set up roughly 44 websites facilitating fraud, gaming, and betting activities. Cases were registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 318(4), 319(2), and 54, as well as Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act.

The NTA credited MeitY, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the CBI, and state police forces for their coordinated response.

The NEET-UG 2026 re-examination itself is being held after the initial May 3 exam was cancelled following a paper leak.

The Telegram restrictions come against a broader global backdrop where the platform has become an increasingly favoured tool for cybercriminals. As recently as April 2026, the FBI issued a public warning about Kali365, a "Phishing-as-a-Service" toolkit first detected that month and distributed through Telegram channels, designed to help even low-skilled attackers bypass Microsoft 365's multi-factor authentication protections.

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